Protests as Brazil Senate backs 20-year spending freeze

Brazil's Senate has approved a 20-year freeze on government spending billed as a centrepiece of austerity reforms, sparking angry clashes in the capital Brasilia where protesters torched a bus.

Hundreds of people, many with their faces covered, clashed with police who fired tear gas to break up the crowd following the upper house vote, which saw the measures quickly pushed through by 53 votes to 16.

Center-right President Michel Temer says the spending freeze is needed to get Brazil's finances back under control, but his austerity policies have prompted violent protests and were criticised last week by a UN expert as "a historic mistake."

During the vote, police were out in force to protect government buildings as around 2,000 people turned out for a demonstration in which a bus was burned.

Police said they arrested 100 people.

Union leader Luis Jorge expressed anger that the Senate had managed to rush through the vote "before we could demonstrate.

"That makes us very angry."

Protests also erupted in Sao Paulo, where leftwing demonstrators attacked the headquarters of FIESP, the country's main industrial association, before being driven back.

The vote means that the spending cap is now mandated by the constitution, serving as the central plank in Temer's bid to "transform" the broken economy, which is in deep recession.

However, Temer is rapidly losing political clout as he and many of his senior allies fight to survive a slew of corruption allegations.

With unemployment at nearly 12 per cent and stubbornly high inflation, Brazilians are increasingly angry over the scandals and hostile to the austerity measures.

Francisco de Oliveira, a 56-year-old economist from Rio Grande do Norte state who was passing through Brasilia, said that he was in favor of what he called a "necessary" amendment.

But, a poll published on Tuesday showed that 60 per cent of Brazilians oppose the spending ceiling, with only 24 per cent in favor, according to a Datafolha poll published in the Folha newspaper.

When the Senate held a first vote on the measure two weeks ago, protesters fought riot police outside Congress, burning cars and smashing windows.